It Grew In My Kitchen!

 

             

                                                     

If you haven't watched mushrooms grow in your kitchen (on purpose), you have missed one of the good experiences                    of life. 

I have always wanted to grow my own mushrooms. At Christmas, my dream  came true. My gift was an oyster mushroom growing kit! It is from a company called Back to the Roots and—none of this waiting till tomorrow business—I started it off that very evening.            

Just to be clear:  this interest in fungi didn’t just pop up overnight like the fairy rings on my lawn. The line, “Boys, grow giant mushrooms in your basement” , from Ray Bradbury’s science fiction story “Come into my Cellar” has stuck with me since first year university. 

And toadstools with the red caps and white speckles are a symbol of good luck and have been featured in our garden for several years

                                         

When we first moved to Stouffville, we were amazed to see soccer ball-sized puffballs growing in the back yard. A few years later we leaned a couple of shiitake mushroom logs from the Fun Guy in Goodwood against the house, and got several harvests. We even picked a few crops of clitocybe nuda (I have no idea how to pronounce that) AFTER  checking them out with an artist friend, Abel Lee, who used to pick mushrooms in Estonia.

So with all this leading to that Christmas evening, I read the directions on the package: I made a couple of cuts in the plastic bag holding the growing medium. Then I raked it up with a fork (reused plastic fork, natch), and put the kit on my buffet. All I had to do for the next week was spritz it a couple of times of day with the cute little sprayer that is included. 

Then I waited. I made sure to pass the buffet several times a day—even if it required a detour. It drew me like a magnet. As the days neared the one-week mark, that stuff inside the box appeared a little lumpier. Then it  began looking sort of alien, like something out of a science fiction movie.

                                                

                           

On the seventh day, that alien stuff turned into wee baby mushrooms. My farm had started to ‘pin’!

Four days is all it took for those ‘pins’ to  turn into full-fledged oyster mushrooms. You could almost see them grow.

I picked a couple of handfuls and sautéed them with red peppers and onions. Delicious!

Better yet, I had become a mushroom farmer! The information pamphlet is written for school-age students and includes a word search (did that successfully), a quiz (probably got a passing mark) and an on-line curriculum (learned a few fun fungus facts). Did you know there are around 10,000 kinds of edible mushrooms?  I didn’t either. I haven’t completed the curriculum yet, but don’t worry, I didn't have to pass a test. 

So until I receive my next mushroom growing kit, I will head to my local supermarket to do all my mushroom foraging--and see if I can complete my mushroom growing curriculum.

I found the curriculum and other information at www. backtotheroots.com